Spring suspension for chairs



July 11, 1933. c. c. MEUTSCH SPRING SUSPENSION FOR CHAIRS Filed Marsh 13, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 1 July 11, 1933. Q MEUTSCH 1,917,313

SPRING SUSPENSION FOR CHAIRS Filed March 13, 1931- 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 H 839 dgm y 1933- c. c. MEUTSCH 1,917,313

SPRING SUSPENSION FOR CHAIRS Filed March 13, 1931 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 ('aries' (U la! fsciz I g wm Patented July 11, 1933 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CHARLES C. ME'UTSCH, OF BUFFALO, NEW YORK srnms snsrnusron FOR CHAIRS Application filed March 13,

This invention relates to a cushion or ,sprm suspension for chairs, davenports and the l' e and relates more particularly to a i siliently connected by a plurality of 'subsprings to the main frame of the chair (or other article of furniture). By such a con; struction the weight of the person is sustained by two sets of springs that are in series with each other. I One of the, objects of the invention is to provide a spring suspension which is sufli ciently soft to enable the sameto be considerably flexed byvery light pressures, butv which, nevertheless, is so constructed as to also be resilient and to not strike bottom when subjected to very heavy pressures.

Another object of the invention is to permit of easy replacement of the sub-springs (which take care of the very heavy pressures) so that, either at the time of purchase of the chair (or other piece of furniture) or' at any time thereafter, the person using the chair may readily have such sub-springs installed as most comfortably and adequately support his individual weight, and thereby also permitting of readily replacing such springs as may in time become broken or weakened.

A still further object of the invention is to provide such a construction of movable frame as will adequately prevent dust from rising up and collecting within the interior of the cushion and will, at the same time, not

require, for the accomplishment of this end,

being tacked to the entire periphery of the 40 main frame of the chair, as is now current practice.

A still further advantage of the invention is to provide a suitable, spring-supported movable frame which will not cause any r interference in the placing of the usual cords that tie the main or cushion springs together and keep the same in proper alignment.

A yet further object ofthe invention is to provide a sub or movable spring suspension 5 frame which is rendered adjustable so as to 1931. Serial No. 5223M.

enable the same to be applied to chairs of different sizes.

Numerous other objects of the invention and practical solutions thereof are disclosed in detail in the herein patent specification,

wherein In the accompanying drawings,

Figure 1 is a horizontal section taken on line 1-1, Fig. 2, through a typical chair and illustrating, in fragmentary top plan, a spring cushion or suspension with its cover removed.

Figure 2 is a vertical, transverse section 1 through said chair taken on line 22, Fig. 1.

Figure 3 is a vertical, longitudinal section 5 throughsaid chair, taken on line 3-3, Fig. 1.

Figure 4 is an enlarged, fragmentary, vertlcal, transverse section through said chair taken on line 4'-4, Figs. 1 and 5.

Figure 5 is an enlarged, fragmentary top plan of the parts shown in Fig. 4.

Figure 6 is an enlarged top plan of one of the sheet metal brackets, showing the same detached.

Figure 7 is an enlarged, vertical, trans 7 verse section through the lower part of one of the cushion springs taken on line 7-7, Fig 1.

Figure Sis an enlarged, vertical section similar to Fig. 7 but showing a modified method of securing the lower end of one of the said cushion springs to the movable frame.

Figure 9 is a horizontal section similar to Fig. 1 but showing a form of movable frame which is adjustable to furniture frames of different sizes.

Figure 10 is a vertical, transverse section thereof taken on line 1010, Fig. 9.

Similar characters of reference indicate like parts in the several figures of the drawmgs.

My invention may be embodied in various forms and in furniture spring suspensions of various constructions, and the present applications are therefore to be regarded merely as some of the possible organizations'which come within the scope of'my invention and, satisfactorily carry out the function of same in practice. As here shown, and referring for the present to Figs. 1'7 inclusive, the same is constructed as follows:

It will beassumed for purposes of illustration that the invention is to be applied to an ordinary stiff, four-legged chair. The main frame A of such a chair comprises the vertical rear legs 1010, which are joined together by the horizontal, transverse, rear frame bar 11;the vertical front legs 1212 which are joined together by the horizontal, transverse, front frame bar 13 ;and the horizontal, longitudinal, side frame bars 14 and 15 which connect the front and rear sets of chair legs.

Secured by flat-head, countersunk wood screws 16 or otherwise to the upper fiat faces of the several frame bars 11, 13, 14 and 15 are a plurality of appropriately spaced sheet metal brackets 17 whose inner ends or heads 18 are rounded and extend inwardly beond the inner faces of said frame bars (see igs. 4 and 5) and are preferably bent upwardly at a relatively small angle as shown. Each of said inner ends or heads 18 is provided with a slot '20 extending radially inward from its periphery and'terminating in an enlargement or retaining hole 21. This slot may be omitted, if desired, as will be more evident from the subsequent description,

its purpose being merely to facilitate the assembly of the cooperatingparts. Formed on the upper face of each bracket head 18 is a locating groove or notch 22 which is substantially horizontal and is disposed perpen dicularly of its companion' frame bar and extends from the retaining hole 21 out to the periphery of said head 18. This notch, like the slot 20, may, if desired, be omitted, but constitutes the preferred construction of the invention for reasons which will hereinafter be more apparent.

Each bracket 17 is provided with a depending, tension, sub-spring 23, the upper and lower ends of which are curled in a longitudinal plane to form upper and lower securing loops or eyes 24 and 25. The upper eye 24 of each of said sub springs is detachably connected to its companion bracket 17 by being passed radially through the slot 20 of said companion bracket 17 and into the retaining hole 21 thereof and then placed in position in its companion locating notch 22.

Arranged within the geometric opening of the main frame A formed by the frame bars 11, 13, 14 and 16 is a movable frame B constituted chiefly of longitudinal and transverse bar metal ribs 26 and 27, the outer ends of which are slightly bent up at 28 and are perforated at 30 to enable the same to be de tachably connected with the lower eyes 25 of the sub-springs 23. Said movable frame B is thus resiliently connected to the main frame A of the chair through the intermediary of the tension sub-springs 23. It will be noted that these sub-springs 23 are disposed substantially vertical and hence are not called 0 upon to contribute to the rigidity of the movable'frame itself, as could be the case if said movable frame were more or less flexible, and if these sub-springs were disposed at an angle to the vertical so as to be able to stiffen said flexible frame. In the present construction this movable frame B is so constructed as to be inherently stiff and rigid and constructed to derive its inherent strength entirely from the inherent stiffness of its bar metal ribs 26 and 27.

These metal ribs are covered on their upper surface with an upper sheet of fabric 31, and are separated from each other by a lower sheet of fabric 32. Said two sheets of fabric are longitudinally sewed with heavy thread or stitched together at 33 to form suitable, longitudinal, tubular enclosures 34 which snugly receive the longitudinal ribs 26 throughout the entire length of the latter, which are thus entirely encased in fabric. The transverse ribs 27 are, however, not entirely encased,only their extreme ends being arranged within the short, transverse, tubular enclosures 35 which are formed by the short lengths of stitching 36. By this construction, these transverse ribs 27 are caused to be not only maintained in their proper location relatively to the two layers of fabric 31 and 32 (and hence to the movable frame B as a whole) but at the same time are covered by the upper fabric 31 and are separated from the longitudinal ribs 26 by the lower fabric 32. This separation of the two sets of metal ribs 26 and 27 from each other by said lower fabric32 prevents said metal ribs from striking against each' other with a metal-to-metal impact, thereby preventing the disagreeable metallic noises which would otherwise occur every time the person occupying the chair shifted his position.

The overall dimensions of the layers of fabric 31 and 32 are considerably larger than the overall dimensions of the opening in the main frame A. This permits the outer edges of said fabric to be turned up at 37 against the vertical inner faces of the frame bars 11, 13, 14 and 16 so as to form a dust tight joint between the movable frame B and the main frame A. This turned-up portion 37 is held up in position and prevented from sagging out of place by reason of the fact that both the stitching 33 and 36 extend clear out to the periphery of the fabric sheets 31 and 32, and thereby the tubular enclosures 34 and 35 are also carried out to said peripheral; edge. Said tubular enclosures are thereby caused to extend out beyond the ends of their companion bar metal ribs 26 and 27 and to encase the lower part of the sub-springs 23, which. latter, being mechanically forced to maintain an upright position, likewise cause the turned-up portions 37 to be held up in position and thus prevented from sagging. .The

is prevented by a relatively small number of sustaining tacks 38, as best shown in Fig. 1.

Arranged coaxially above the intersection of the bar metal ribs 26 and 27 and resting upon the movable frame B, taken as a whole, are a plurality of central cushion springs 40 which are preferably of the hour-glass or double conical shape, as is usual practice in spring constructions of this type. These central cushion springs do not rest directly upon said bar-metal ribs 26 and 27 but upon the upper .layer. of fabric 31 which covers the upper faces of said ribs. Thus a metal-to-metal contact is avoided and, concomitantly, there results an elimination of any disagreeable noises which would otherwise occur to a greater or lesser extent every time the pressure carried upon any individual spring was changed. In the construction shown in Figs. 1-7 inclusive these central cushion springs 40 are each held in place upon the movable frame B by two pairs of cotter pins 41 the heads of which encircle the lowermost coil of their companion central cushion spring 40 and the shanks of which pass down through suitable holes in the movable frame B and are bent outwardly and clinched against the lower face of said movable frame.

Arranged at the front part of the chair are a plurality of (three) front cushion springs 42 whose lower ends rest upon a suitable shelf 43 which is secured directly to and forms a part of the main frame A. Said front cushion springs 42 are secured in place upon said shelf 43 by a plurality of U shaped brads or nails 39 in the usual and well known manner. It will be noticed, incidentally, that said shelf 43 is suitably cut away at 44 to prevent interference with the front set of brackets 17. i p v The upper ends of all of said cushion springs 40 and 42 are laterally interconnected or tied together by a plurality of aligning cords 45 in the usual and well known manner. It is essential. thatsome of these cords lie in vertical planes which intersect the axes of their companion ribs 26 and 27. This involves securing said aligning cords 45 to the main frame A of thechair by means of cleat or anchoring tacks 46 which are disposed coaxially with respect to their companion brackets 17. To prevent interference betwen said anchoring tacks 46 and said brackets 17, the latter are cut away at 47 so that said tacks may be driven into the main frame A of the chair through the central part of said cut-away portion 47.

In Fig. 8 is illustrated a modified. method of securing the central cushion springs 40 to the movable frame B. In this construction instead of using cotter pins 41, the lower coils of said central cushion springs are not secured-directly to the ribs 26 and 27 but to the sheets of fabric 31 and 32,this being accomplished by suitablestitching 48.

In Figs. 9 and 10 is shown a modified form of movable frame B. In this case each of the longitudinal, bar-metal ribs are constructed of two separate rib sections 261 of identical shape and each of the transverse ribs of two separate rib sections 271 of identical shape. Each of said rib sections is pro-, vided with a plurality of holes 50. Each pair of rib sections is held together by cotter pins 411 which pass through suitable sets of the holes 50 and are additionally employed to hold the lower coils of the central cushion springs 40 in proper position upon the sub or movable frame B. In adapting this form of movable frame B to any certain size of main frame A, each of the sets of rib sections 261 and 271 are suitably adjusted in length by moving the companion sections of each set toward or from each other (as may be. desired), after which the cushion springs 40 .are placed in position and the cotter pins 411 passed down over the lower coil of their companion springs and through appropriate holes 50 in their companion rib sections and clinched against the ower faces of the movable frame B. It will be thus seen that these cotter pins 411 perform the dual function of holding the cushion springs 40 in place upon the movable frame B and also serve to hold together each companion set of rib sections in their proper linear relationship.

As a consequence of the novel construchas already been imposed upon the aforesaid cushion springs 40 and 42.- It will be noticed that the sub-springs 23 have nothing to do with the rigidity or stiffness of the movable frame B or B. Consequently, they are not under any flexure (as is current practice) 'unless an external load is actually being sustained by the spring suspension as a whole. Thus they are enabled to function solely in the capacity of resiliently supporting the movable frame in a direction substantially parallel to the movement of said movable frame B or B, thereby providing greater resilience than would be possible if other duties were also imposed upon them. The

noises due to metal-to-metal contact are eliminated. The use of the brackets 17 in nowise interferes with the anchoring of'the aligning'cords 45 by the anchoring tacks 46. The joint between the movable .frame B or B and the main frame A is rendered dust tight by the turned up edges 37 of the fabric 2, said edges being held in place by the subsprings 23 which are encased in the extreme outer ends of the tubular enclosures 34 and 35. If said sub-springs 23 are too stifi or too soft for the purchaser or user, or if they should become broken, they can be 'very easily replaced by lifting the movable frame B or B (as the case may he) and then pushing the sub-spring 23 in question up and out of its companion locating notch 22 and then the upper spring eye 24 passed out through the slot 20 and the lower eye 25 of said spring unhooked from its companion rib 26 or 27 as the case happens to be. The new subspring is then placed in position 'by the reverse process. The lower ends of the central cushion springs 40 are definitely held in B y either the cotter pins 41 or 411, or by the stitching 48. If the: movable frame B is to be adapted to main frames A of different sizes the form of the invention shown in Figs. 9 and 10 is used in which case the ribs may be adjusted to any length desired by properly adjusting the pairs of rib sections 261 and 271 to the length desired and securing said adjustment and also locating the cushion springs 40 in place by means of the. cotter pins 411.

I claim as my invention:

1. A furniture spring suspension comprising a main frame; a movable frame including only two plies of fabric stitched to form primary and secondary tubular enclosures disposed perpendicularly to each other; ribs arranged perpendicularly to each other withproper position on the movable frame B or" in said tubular enclosures and separated from each other by the lower ply of said fabric; a cushion spring adapted to support a persons weight and restingupon said ribs and separated therefrom by the upper ply of said fabric; and a resilient connection between said ribs and said main frame.

2. A furniture spring suspension comprising a main frame; a movable frame including plies of fabric stitched to form a tubular enclosure and turned up perpendicularly at its opposite edges; a rib arranged within the central part of said enclosure; a vertical cushion spring arranged upon said rib and helical springs arranged within the turned-up portions of the same tubular enclosure aforesaid and connected at opposite ends to said rib and to said main frame.

3. A furniture spring suspension comprising a main frame; a movable frame including a ply of fabric turned up perpendicularly at opposite edges, said turned up portions bearing against the inner face of said main frame; a rib secured to said fabric a vertical cushion spring arranged upon said rib; and a subspring connecting each end of said rib with said main frame and secured to said turned up portions of said fabric so as to hold the latter in place.

4. A furniture spring suspension comprising a main frame; a bracket secured thereto having a cut-away portion; a movable frame; a sub-spring connecting said movable frame with said bracket; a cushion spring arranged on said movable frame; and an aligning cord secured to saidcushion spring and tacked to said main frame at the part thereof exposed by the cut-away portion of said bracket.

In testimony whereof I hereby aflix my signature.

CHARLES C. MEUTSCH. 

